Executive Director

Executive Director Position Description

Position: Executive Director
Reports to: Board of Directors
Status: Full time
Primary location: Cumberland, Maryland, with regular travel throughout the service area
Proposed annual base salary: $80,000

About Potomac Highlands United Way

Potomac Highlands United Way (PHUW) serves Allegany and Garrett counties in Maryland and Hampshire and Mineral counties in West Virginia. PHUW brings people, organizations, and resources together to address community needs, strengthen local partnerships, and support households and neighbors throughout the region.

Position overview

The Executive Director provides strategic and collaborative leadership to strengthen PHUW as a regional convener and driver of community impact. In partnership with the board, this leader sets direction, grows financial resources linked to community priorities, builds understanding of PHUW’s role, and ensures sound stewardship of people, finances, programs, and operations. The Executive Director is accountable for organizational performance and day-to-day management within policies established by the board.

Key responsibilities

Strategic leadership and community impact

• Partner with the board, staff, volunteers, and community members to set long-term direction and translate it into annual priorities, plans, and measurable results.
• Build trusted relationships among employers, government, education, health and human services, donors, and residents across all four counties. Convene partners around practical responses to local priorities, including the needs of ALICE households.
• Guide programs, community investments, and grantmaking with clear goals, consistent administration, partner input, and evaluation of outcomes.

Fundraising and public leadership

• Set resource development goals with the board and lead diversified strategies for workplace campaigns, individual and major gifts, corporate partnerships, sponsorships, grants, and endowment or planned giving where appropriate.
• Personally cultivate and steward key donor, business, civic, and funding relationships; engage board members and staff in a coordinated approach to fundraising.
• Represent PHUW in public forums and with the media. Communicate its mission, role, results, and opportunities to participate with clarity and credibility.

Board partnership and governance

• Serve as the board’s principal staff partner, providing candid information, timely recommendations, and support for policy, strategy, governance, and committee work.
• Engage staff and volunteers in planning; track progress and risks against strategic and annual plans and report them regularly to the board.

People, operations, and financial stewardship

• Recruit, coach, delegate to, supervise, and evaluate staff. Foster open communication, fair treatment, teamwork, accountability, and professional growth.
• Lead a first-year assessment of roles, workloads, recurring tasks, approval steps, technology, events, and program processes. Listen to staff, identify duplication and bottlenecks, test improvements, and recommend work to simplify, redesign, automate, delegate, or stop.
• Present a phased operational improvement and capacity plan to the board, including priorities, costs, measures of staff workload and service quality, and evidence-based recommendations for staffing and other resources.
• Develop the annual budget with appropriate staff and board leaders. Monitor revenue, expenses, cash flow, controls, financial reporting, and long-term financial sustainability.
• Oversee policies, contracts, technology, records, risk management, volunteer capacity, and applicable United Way affiliation and reporting responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated senior leadership in a nonprofit, public, philanthropic, or business setting with responsibility for strategy, people, budgets, and results.
• A record of fundraising or resource development and building lasting relationships across sectors.
• Ability to communicate a compelling vision, lead changes, analyze financial information and organizational risk, and work effectively with a governing board.
• Experience in convening partners and working with communities of varied sizes and needs; ability to travel regularly throughout the four-county service area.
• Must have an understanding of Microsoft Office, Social Media, and Telephone.
• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and/or substantial relevant experience.

Preferred: familiarity with United Way or community impact models; experience with grants, volunteer leadership, and cross-sector collaboration; and knowledge of the Potomac Highlands and its social service landscape.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

•Frequently sit and walk

•Talk and hear

•Drive a motor vehicle

•Use hands and fingers to feel, handle or operate objects, tools or controls

•Reach with hands and arms

•Occasionally lift/move up to 30 pounds

Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and ability to adjust focus.

Note: Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Leadership attributes

PHUW seeks an approachable, compassionate, and grounded leader with vision, flexibility, sound judgment, and a growth mindset. The successful candidate listens well, communicates honestly, remains composed during challenges, empowers a team, builds civic connections, and follows through on commitments. The leader is able to pair ambition for community impact with a sustainable way of working for staff and volunteers.

Compensation and employment details

The proposed base salary range is $80.000.00 annually. Final compensation will reflect experience, qualifications, internal equity, and board approval. Benefits and paid time off will be provided in accordance with PHUW policy. PHUW is an EOE (equal opportunity employer) and considers qualified applicants without regard to protected status. Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified applicants and employees. Job requirements will include sitting, standing, lifting, travel/driving, and other physical activities.